Notre Dame’s scout team that specializes in running the triple option offense named themselves the S.W.A.G. Team (Students With Athleticism and Game). We learned this after the Georgia Tech game, a week in which the S.W.A.G. Team was quite busy. They got work this week too as Notre Dame football prepares to take on Navy’s option attack.
It’s clear that the SWAG Team must have been at least partially inspired by the name of ’90s R&B group SWV (Sisters With Voices) and 2014 Notre Dame Football’s “The Money Team” (Will Fuller, Taurean Folston, and a few others)
SPREAD: Notre Dame football -15
TV: NBC 2:30 Central
The Fighting Irish now see the team that just vanquished them, Clemson, as their replacement in all the college football playoff projections. There’s still enough time though. Well, maybe.
Thus far, none of the opponents on the 2015 Notre Dame football schedule are doing them any favors. Texas is total garbage. Georgia Tech was extremely overrated.
The Fighting Irish now have to stay perfect, and hope that Stanford wins every game they have left that isn’t against them. Then hope all the other extraneous variables out there fall into line.
That’s asking an awful lot!
No. 15 Notre Dame and Navy will continue college football’s longest continuous intersectional rivalry
Saturday’s matchup marks the 89th consecutive meeting between the two storied football programs. Notre Dame has won the last four contests, and holds a commanding 75-12-1 advantage in the all-time series. (Prior to 2007, Notre Dame had won 43 consecutive games against Navy.)
Take alway the earth-shattering ’07 upset, and Navy had not registered a victory over Notre Dame football since the Roger Staubach era.
Dude, that’s a long time ago.
That said, this will be no cakewalk.
The Midshipmen (4-0) are led by QB Keenan Reynolds, and enter the matchup coming off a win over Air Force. They’re bowl bound; probably the Grumman Northrop Bell Helicopters Military Armed Forces Bowl, or maybe the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
Even though those bowl games are on complete opposite ends of the country, both are de facto home games for Navy. The Academy is in Maryland, and San Diego is where the largest build-up of U.S. Armed Forces reside.
Prediction: Notre Dame football 37, Navy 23.
Apologies for the game previews and predictions being so late this week. As it’s mid-season, we had to start our bowl projection aggregation articles for each team (Here’s the link to Notre Dame’s), and of course, the Chicago Cubs making the postseason jumped the editorial pecking order. Next week we’ll have the previews posted by Tuesday, Wednesday morning at the latest.
If Clemson wasn’t a true elimination game (at least it wouldn’t have been for Clemson), USC definitely will be the following week. Once you hit loss number two, whoever you are, the best you can hope for is a New Year’s Six Bowl appearance.
Look for Notre Dame football to stay focused on the task at hand on Saturday. They will not fall into the proverbial trap game here.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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